The Amazon Rainforest basin is home to 60% of the worlds remaining tropical rainforests. The rainforests biodiversity plays a critical role in the climates in not just South America, but North America as well. Roughly 83% of the rainforest is still intact, but as South becomes more industrialized, the deforestation process will only increase in speed.
All the animals that have gone extinct in
the Amazon, all of them.
Deforestation in the Amazon pretty much ruins everything down there. From wildlife, to inhabitable land to the health of the natives. The only people that benefit from said deforestation is the already rich and wealthy who are running the operations.
HOW DOES IT HAPPEN?
Deforestation is brought about by the following:
* conversion of forests and woodlands to agricultural land to feed growing numbers of people;
* development of cash crops and cattle ranching, both of which earn money for tropical countries;
* commercial logging (which supplies the world market with woods such as meranti, teak, mahogany and ebony) destroys trees as well as opening up forests for agriculture;
* felling of trees for firewood and building material; the heavy lopping of foliage for fodder; and heavy browsing of saplings by domestic animals like goats.
To compound the problem, the poor soils of the humid tropics do not support agriculture for long. Thus people are often forced to move on and clear more forests in order to maintain production.
The Amazon Rainforest basin is home to 60% of the worlds remaining tropical rainforests. The rainforests biodiversity plays a critical role in the climates in not just South America, but North America as well. Roughly 83% of the rainforest is still intact, but as South becomes more industrialized, the deforestation process will only increase in speed.
All the animals that have gone extinct in
the Amazon, all of them.
Deforestation in the Amazon pretty much ruins everything down there. From wildlife, to inhabitable land to the health of the natives. The only people that benefit from said deforestation is the already rich and wealthy who are running the operations.
HOW DOES IT HAPPEN?
Deforestation is brought about by the following:
* conversion of forests and woodlands to agricultural land to feed growing numbers of people;
* development of cash crops and cattle ranching, both of which earn money for tropical countries;
* commercial logging (which supplies the world market with woods such as meranti, teak, mahogany and ebony) destroys trees as well as opening up forests for agriculture;
* felling of trees for firewood and building material; the heavy lopping of foliage for fodder; and heavy browsing of saplings by domestic animals like goats.
To compound the problem, the poor soils of the humid tropics do not support agriculture for long. Thus people are often forced to move on and clear more forests in order to maintain production.
Consequences: